Drug Suspension Hits A-Rod, 12 Others

Major League Baseball banned slugger Alex Rodriguez for 211 games without pay for allegedly violating league rules prohibiting performance-enhancing drugs, part of the largest mass doping penalty ever handed down by a major American sports league.

Mr. Rodriguez, a New York Yankees third baseman whose 647 career home runs rank fifth on baseball's all-time list, is also accused of attempting to obstruct a league investigation into banned drugs. As such, he got a much harsher ban than the 12 other players who were penalized Monday. They each must sit out 50 games, which just about covers the remainder of the regular season.

The players are each connected to Biogenesis, a defunct South Florida clinic that the league says distributed the banned drugs to athletes.

Mr. Rodriguez's suspension is effective Thursday and theoretically covers the rest of 2013 and the entire 2014 regular season, though Mr. Rodriguez, 38 years old, said he would appeal. Under baseball's collective-bargaining agreement, Mr. Rodriguez can play and be paid during that appeals process, which likely will take a few months to complete.

If an independent arbitrator upholds it, the suspension would be the longest non-lifetime ban in major-league history and would cost Mr. Rodriguez more than $31 million in lost salary.

"I am disappointed with the penalty and intend to appeal and fight through the process," said a statement from Mr. Rodriguez, who was set to make his season debut Monday night after being sidelined all year with hip and leg injuries. "I am eager to get back on the field and be with my teammates."

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez made a statement on Monday in reaction to being suspended for 211 games without pay for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs and attempting to obstruct the league's investigation.

What does Alex Rodriguez's suspension mean for the business of baseball and the brand of the New York Yankees star? Robert Tuchman, president of Goviva, a sports and entertainment marketing firm in New York, joins The News Hub.

A-Rod's Tumultuous Career

See key dates in the career of Alex Rodriguez, three-time American League most-valuable player and baseball's No. 5 all-time home-run hitter with 647.

The suspensions highlight MLB's evolution to a league that enforces its drug policy more aggressively than any other U.S. professional sports body. That is in part because of increased cooperation from players, who have supported more stringent testing and tougher penalties after seeing an entire era of their predecessors tainted by doping suspicions. But the players' union opposed the league's punishment for Mr. Rodriguez.

Union chief Michael Weiner said Monday that MLB "has not acted appropriately" under the collective-bargaining agreement. "Mr. Rodriguez knows that the union, consistent with its history, will defend his rights vigorously," Mr. Weiner said.

In a statement, MLB said Mr. Rodriguez's suspension is "based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years." The league said the ban also is for attempting to cover up his drug use "by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation."

Mr. Weiner said he doesn't expect the arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz, to rule on Mr. Rodriguez's appeal before November, meaning the suspension, if upheld in its entirety, wouldn't take effect until 2014 and then would cover part of the 2015 season, when Mr. Rodriguez will be turning 40 years old.

After previously denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs, Mr. Rodriguez admitted in 2009 that he took steroids between 2001 and 2003, when he played for the Texas Rangers. (Penalties for steroid use didn't begin until 2004.) But he said his drug use was confined to those three seasons. "All my years in New York have been clean," he said in February 2009.

MLB launched its probe into Biogenesis in January, when a Miami newspaper published handwritten notes that purportedly linked Mr. Rodriguez and several other players to the clinic's operator, Anthony Bosch. The notes allegedly listed specific drugs, dosages and payment amounts dated from 2009 to 2012. At the time, Mr. Rodriguez denied having any association with Mr. Bosch and denied any wrongdoing.

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